Chronic Travel Bug: Disneyland While Pregnant!

The last time I went to Disneyland, I wrote in-depth about visiting with various chronic illnesses, and you can read all about that here. This time, I’m going to focus on tips for visiting with a baby on board!

But pregnancy wasn’t the only big difference this time around. For one thing, I visited during peak summer season instead of during the holidays. For another, this year Disney is celebrating their “Diamond Celebration” in honor of the 60th anniversary of the park opening.

This means that, in addition to some stunning new decor, there’s all kinds of limited edition merchandise, collectibles, and food. But it’s so much more than that! There are special firework shows and parades, and rather than the simple themes they’ve had in the past – Disney movies, good versus evil, love conquering all, and believing in magic – everything this year focuses on Walt himself. The man, his dreams, and the amazing history of the happiest place on earth.

Some people have said that the history aspect is a little dull, but to me that couldn’t be farther from the truth. However, I can see how children may have more trouble connecting to these stories than adults. As a child, I never really wondered too much about the man behind the mouse. But as an adult, I realize that this man gave me my childhood. He gave me stories and a love of storytelling. He gave me magic. He gave me friends and heroes. He gave me more than I could ever put into words, and paying my respects to that is an honor.

At the end of the new fireworks show “Disneyland Forever,” we see the shadow of the Partners statue on the castle come to life as Walt and Mickey walk away into the park. The show ends with the words “Just think….Disneyland is yours! Forever!” And standing there, crying tears of gratitude (and probably pregnancy hormones), it was akin to a religious experience. Walt gave us a little taste of heaven on earth. He made the world a better place to be. When life can be so dark and heavy, Walt took some of the weight away. I don’t know anyone he hasn’t touched. Childhood was God’s greatest gift to man, and Walt found a way to preserve it, and to bring it back during the moments we most need it.

But I’m waxing poetic again, aren’t I?

Ok ok, let’s talk about being pregnant in the happiest place on earth.

One thing you should know from the get go is that when you look online, you’ll likely see people talking about something called “the pink pass” or the “pregnancy pass.” This is allegedly a pass that works like a fastpass so that pregnant ladies don’t need to stay on their feet in long lines. If it used to exist or it exists in other Disney parks, it is not a thing in Disneyland. They’re still very accommodating and you can still get a “first visit!” button for your little fetal mouseketeer to wear on your bump, but you won’t be cutting in line.

Now, there are a couple of things that can help because believe me, standing in lines was probably the hardest part for me. I could sometimes sit on a ledge or on a chain rope (even though strictly speaking that’s against the rules) for moments but the problem is that you have to keep moving in a line. Sitting on the floor may offer brief bursts of relief, but it almost isn’t worth it when you have to keep popping right back up to scooch forward. So what can you do?

I didn’t end up going for these options because I felt like while I was semi-miserable, I could deal. But if I was in my third trimester, I probably would have caved pretty soon. One, you can rent a wheelchair for the surprisingly low price of $12 a day. Most lines are wheelchair accessible, and you can pop right up to hop on the ride, then hop back in your chair. This is, of course, assuming you have a husband who loves you and your surprisingly heavy bun in the oven an awful lot. My own sweet husband said that he truly wouldn’t have minded, and it would have been kind of nice because we could hang our backpack on the wheelchair and he wouldn’t need to carry it. Plus it would be harder to get accidentally split up in crowds. But I ultimately decided I’d need to be more miserable to make him do that.

The other option works better if you have a wheelchair, but I’m sure would still work even if you didn’t. It’s a disability service offered that allows you to wait in line without having to wait in line. It works similarly to a fast pass. You simply go to the disability entrance of a ride (usually a wider corridor with ramps as opposed to stairs) and ask for a return time. You’ll still wait as long as you would have to get on, but you can go sit down somewhere and come back in whatever the wait time is. Now, this isn’t a trick for just anyone to use. You’ll need to actually have a reason you can’t stand for a long time, and one that’s not “well I just don’t want to.” A budding baby bump meets the requirements!

Now we did use this option once, sort of. We had waited in a line and the ride broke down, so we got a pass to go to the front of any line so that our “wait time” hadn’t gone to waste. This is what talked me out of trying the disability line again, though. Pretty much everyone in line will be in motorized scooters. The people in our short wait line were all older and honestly, mean. They let us step in front of them so I could sit on a low wall, but were quick to tell us it’s just for sitting, and we better not think of cutting ahead in line. I don’t know. It felt like everyone was mad at us for being unfair or just using a baby bump as an excuse to cut in line. So I’d rather just wait longer and have my feet hurt than deal with mean people.

If you’re worried about heat, I wouldn’t be. It’s cooler in Cali than it is here in Texas, and at night it’s downright chilly. Most of the park has ample shade and indoor corridors with AC so you can walk about in comfort much of the time. Don’t forget sunscreen though! We always buy it when we arrive since the airport is stupid about liquids, but this time we left it until mid day. Don’t do that! I never get sunburn and guess what? I burned. I got red shoulders on day one. So first thing’s first – get sunscreen on!

Now, on to the attractions!

Let me begin by making it clear that I did NOT ride anything with a pregnancy warning. I know some ladies do, but I don’t think it’s worth the risk. Plus, in all the rides in Disneyland, there are only 8 with warnings anyway (Indiana Jones, Matterhorn, all three “Mountains,” Star Tours, Gadget Go Coaster, and Autopia). So why bother? Especially if you’re visiting in peak season, you will not ride every single ride until there’s only those 8 left. There’s a ripe full day without ’em, so leave ’em.

Alice in Wonderland – this classic dark ride has just gotten some serious upgrades, so don’t skip it! Like all the Disney dark rides, this is a low-speed ride through. There are some jolts as the cars hit a rough corner here and there, but not enough for you to hit your bump on the handles or anything. You may feel a bit ruffled, though.

(We also saw Alice and Hatter sit down for a tea party with some little ones – so sweet!)

This ride has a ton of new visual effects, including a lot more of the original animation projected in creative ways amongst the audio anamatronics. Plus, this is the only dark ride that heads out into daylight down a fun hill of serpentine curves – pretty slowly and smoothly, though, so don’t worry! The updates are recent, so whether you’ve ridden this one before or not, make it a must see. This is my new favorite dark ride, the effects are just amazing.

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters – This ride is awesome for being pregnant for two reasons – one, you steer the car. So you can spin as much or as little as possible, and turn away from anything that’s making you motion sick or something like that. Two – it’s kind of a thrill ride! No, you won’t get a lot of speed or big drops or anything, but it’s a competition. You versus a companion in a laser shoot-em-up of robots and aliens. You can compete to get the highest score and defeat the Emperor Zurg! We take it pretty seriously.

Now, there is a downside. This ride was by far the worst wait for me. Not because it was particularly long really, only about 25 minutes, but there was no place to sit down. The line was also sprawling, which means that you have to walk a long way rather than inching bit by bit. I guess it’s encouraging to move so much, but I needed a break. To be fair, it was one of the last rides of the night for us. The other thing was that there are a LOT of kids in this line. I love kids. I do. But when it’s mostly little boys making blaster noises and shouting about killing things, I love them less. A lot less. So don’t leave rides like this for the end of the day if you’re hoping for a quieter denouement.

The Disneyland Railroad – I loved this. I loved it because it was sitting, there’s a nice breeze, you’re shaded, and it’s kind of like a mini tour. You not only get wonderful views of the park, but some behind the scene stuff that can only be seen from the train. Plus, we got to ride with a Disneyland tour guide – but more on that later. This is a perfect mid-day ride because it gives you a break without you needing to actually take a break to sit on a boring bench somewhere. There’s very little wait time, and it’s very relaxing.

You can get some breaths of gasoline-smell every now and then, but the farther away from the engine at the front you sit, the less of a problem that is. Baby was also excited about this ride – s/he started kicking excitedly as we walked up.

Dumbo – This was our first ride of the day. If you’re pregnant, you might get a little tug at your heartstrings from the storks that line the top of the ride, carrying baby animals to the circus. Plus I’m always pleasantly surprised at how high this ride goes, giving you a little thrill. It goes just fast enough for a nice breeze, but not so fast or high that you feel frightened for you or the baby. It also doesn’t spin fast enough to make you feel nauseated.

An added bonus – since they moved the Dumbo attraction in Disney World, the Disneyland flying elephants are now the only ones that offer a view of the castle. This is too classic to pass up.

The Enchanted Tiki Room – I can no longer talk about this one without a lot of bias. Our dog, Dudley, loves it. I can’t even explain to you why, we have no idea. We listen to music all the time and he never cares. But if you play the Tiki Room song, he will always sing along.

This being our first trip since we’ve had him, we were way more excited than usual to go in and sing along. We picked up a Tiki Room napkin to serve as a little bandanna for Dudley when we got home. I love this show. It’s the first anamatronics Disney ever made, and they’re still amazing to this day. Plus it’s just fun to sing and the old jokes are still so charming and funny — I just love it. Plus it’s sitting down in the AC for a few minutes, what pregnant lady would pass that up?

It’s a Small World – this was our last ride of the evening, and it’s a perfect way to end a Disney day. The boat ride is relaxing and it’s fun to spot all the little Easter eggs, like Alice and the White Rabbit hanging out in Europe, or Woody and Jessie chillin in the Texas Room, aka the best room. TEXAS GETS ITS OWN ROOM GUYS.

Two little things: one, at the end of the ride the boats bump in to each other, which will give you a little jolt but nothing major. Baby will just bounce around a little. Two, if you’re riding at night and it’s colder than you expected, you may not appreciate the blasting AC inside as much as you would mid day.

Jungle Cruise – This is another great ride with a terrible line. The ride itself is lovely. The cheesy jokes are always fun and who doesn’t love a calm, wave-less boat ride with a breeze and shade? The problem is definitely the line. Made up to look like an explorers lodge or poachers hut or something, it’s main problem is that even with a short wait time (we got 20 minutes) you’ll have to go up and down stairs. Why? Because it’s fun! Or something. I don’t know. But the ride is a classic, so if you want to go, go towards the beginning of the day when you don’t hate standing up yet.

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride – This ride is one of the oldest and weirdest at Disneyland. It’s also one of the few that doesn’t have a counterpart at Disney World. It’s also the only Disney ride where you actually go to hell. Like you go to hell and the ride ends, there’s not even a happy ending. The protagonist just gets damned for all time. You just have to ride it, it’s too weird not to!

However, pregnant ladies be warned! This is a very jerky ride. Tight, sudden corners with jolt you all over the place. It’s a dark ride, so it’s low speed and there’s no pregnancy warnings, so it is safe. But out of everything we rode I’d say this one caused the most discomfort.

Peter Pan’s Flight– For some reason, this is notoriously the longest line in Disneyland. It’s a classic ride, a story everyone loves, you get to fly around in a pirate ship, and they just updated the effects. While the updates didn’t wow me as much as the Alice in Wonderland updates, they’re still pretty magical. The trick is seeing it at all. We ended up using our “rain check” pass after we waited in line for Haunted Mansion only to have it break down. But odds are you won’t get such a pass and there’s no Fast Pass, so how do you ride Peter Pan?

Well there are a few tricks. One is to ride it at the very start of the day. Get there right when the park opens and you’re looking at the shortest wait – however, since it’s right near the gates, there will still be a wait. That means you might want to get out to Pirates or Haunted Mansion, where there will literally be no wait at park open. Your other option is to try and hop on at the very end of the day, but that’s risky since they may close the line before you get there. If you’re ok with missing a parade, that’s always a great time to get a shorter wait on high demand rides.

Really the moral of the story is that if you walk by Peter Pan and the wait is 30 minutes or less, jump on. That’s rare.

The new effects are really cool though. There’s a lot of extra pixie dust – literally. Most of the new lighting effects involve Tinkerbell’s trademark sparkling. There are new figures and anamatronics along with updates and repaints of old figures. This is also the only dark ride to not be in cars – your flying ship hangs from above you, and much of the things to see are “far” below you. If you can get on, you’ll love every second of it.

Pirates of the Caribbean – Almost every time we go to Disney, we want to ride Haunted Mansion first. And that happens to be right behind Pirates. So we always get there when the park opens and go straight to New Orleans Square, and we usually see that Pirates has no wait yet so we almost always ride that first. That’s exactly what happened this time. We literally stepped on to a pirate boat with no wait time at all.

This is a great ride for everyone. The thrills come from the atmosphere which is so much darker and more suspenseful at Disneyland than its counterparts. It’s nice and cool, with too-chilly breezes in all the right ghostly places. Plus this ride has two drops, as opposed to Disney World’s one. But the drops here are pretty gentle, since the boats are so wide. It’s just like going down a big slide. And there’s no splashy sudden stop at the end, like on Splash Mountain. However you may get a little spray. That was actually kind of exciting to me because I like rides where you get wet and was sure I wouldn’t be allowed to go on any. The surprise! Pirate splash! I was like “Look! My butt’s wet! THIS IS SO EXCITING!”

Splash Mountain – You can’t ride this. I was actually excited not to because I think this ride is terrifying. But husband got to use the single rider line to ride it with minimal wait time, plus he didn’t feel too lonely since it’s a one person to a row ride anyway.

Staying behind while your Daddy-to-be takes advantage of a single rider line? Splash Mountain is a fun one because you can wave to him just before the big drop, and even snap a video!

Haunted Mansion – This is the best ride. It just is. And if you’re pregnant, no worries! It’s one of the slowest, smoothest rides in the park. And it’s still AWESOME! If you go to Disney and you don’t ride Haunted Mansion, you’re doing it wrong.

You may notice that this list is a good bit shorter than the last time I went to Disney. This was my first time in Disneyland during peak season. I was taken aback at how much more crowded it was, and how much longer everything took. I’m glad we got to go to D23, but I will likely stick to visiting in more off-season times from now on. If I do go back during peak season, I’ll definitely give myself more than one day per park. If you’re pregnant, that’s a good idea anyway, since you’re probably not as spry and nimble as you used to be pre-bump.

Another reason that there are less rides on the list is that we took some time to do other things in the parks. Disneyland is a lot more than just rides, and since this is our last trip without kids (well sort of…you know what I mean) we decided to see more shows and do some of the more “grown up” Disney things.

So, what did we do and see?

Take a Tour – The biggest thing we did was take the Walk in Walt’s Footsteps Tour. This is something we’ve always wanted to do, but since it costs extra money and takes so much time, we’ve always opted to cram in as many rides as possible rather than take the leisurely tour route. Carrying a baby around, however, meant that we were taking the park at a more leisurely pace anyway. Plus, the Diamond Celebration is one of the best times to learn more about the man the park was celebrating.

The tour is actually a great thing to do whatever stage of life you’re in. It may be trying for young kids, though. There’s a lot of patient listening involved. But it’s a lot more than walking around listening to stories! You’ll get to ride two popular rides with no wait time (exactly which rides changes tour to tour, but they assured me it’s always something accessible to everyone, so no worries if you’re pregnant – you won’t miss out) and a meal is included in the price!

The tour guide speaks to you through headphones, so you don’t need to worry about missing an important bit of a story if a horse drawn car rolls by or a kid starts crying. The tour is still live, too, so you can ask questions. You’ll also get to hear recordings of Walt’s opening day speeches for each land. Most people know the famous Disneyland opening speech “To all who come to this happy place, welcome…” but did you know he had a speech for each area of the park? Fantasyland, Adventureland, Frontierland…. and they’re all lovely.

The rides we rode were Alice in Wonderland and we tried to ride Haunted Mansion but ended up getting the rain check pass instead. According to our tour guide, the ride had closed due to “a strange circumstance.” And she said it must be very strange for the castmembers not to just tell her. Some of our tour group ventured guesses – that someone threw up, fainted, dropped something on the track, or tried to get out of the car – but she assured us that those were all rather common circumstances, and we’d have to be much more creative to think of one a Disney employee would deem “strange.”

We also rode the train as part of the tour, if you want to count that as a third ride. The tour is about three hours long, and there’s a bathroom break in the middle. If you’re pregnant and need more than one, you can break away from the group at any time as long as you let the guide know so they can stay close and not leave you behind. Our group was pretty small, probably only 12 – 15 people. And our guide was sweet and enthusiastic about the whole thing.

Sometimes the tour will take you up to Walt’s private apartment, but sadly not this time. We did, however, get to see the Disneyland Dream Suite, which was almost as good. I thought that this hotel room above Pirates of the Caribbean was just a prudent use of extra space, but it was actually built for Walt. While he had his own private apartment over the Firehouse on main street, he needed more room for when his entire family would visit. Sadly, he passed away before the completion of the suite.

It was only recently that imagineers discovered the original plans and brought the dream suite to fruition. And of course, added a lot of magic. The room is right next door to the mysterious Club 33, and it cannot be reserved. A night in the dream suite is priceless, literally. You can offer as much money as you want, but you’ll be turned away. The room is only given freely as a surprise. There are various contests and drawings you can enter and win a night. But it’s only by luck that you can stay there.

So other than being literally in the middle of the park, what’s up there that’s so great? When you walk in, you might be a little underwhelmed. It just looks like a very nice hotel – okay, like the nicest rich people hotel ever, but what makes it a “dream?” There are some really unique things. For instance, in the bathroom the tiles have tiny, almost imperceptible lights in them that look like a starry night sky. The fireplace in the sitting room has an animation of a fake fire inside it, and when it “sparks” it looks like tiny fireworks. But that’s not even the real magic of the room.

Look closer, and you’ll see mysterious buttons in each room labeled “Good Night Kiss.” More seasoned Disney fans will know that as a reference to the nightly fireworks in the park – Walt wanted fireworks every night as a “good night kiss,” one last sweet magical thing to end your night with. So what do these buttons do? Each room is different. They might make a boring landscape on the wall come to life with mermaids coming up out of the water, or they might make an old antique train in a glass box start up and chug along right out from its case and all around the room. It might make an old grandfather clock face burst into color with singing birds. It might make knick knacks on the shelves sing to you and light up. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s so very rare to see real magic.

And, as a fellow tour member pointed out, I can now tell my child that they have of course been in the dream suite, they’re an honorary Disney citizen and they’re awesome.

The tour tells the story of many rides and park secrets, but the most important part is that it tells the story of Walt Disney’s entire life – from his childhood to his death. And there at the end of that tour, when you hear about Walt’s last days and final breaths, you’re gonna tear up. And then, when the guide tells you the story of his favorite song, Feed the Birds from Mary Poppins, and why he loved it – and then they play it for you – you’re going to cry like a big baby. In fact, everyone in our tour cried, and that made our guide cry. She said she tells this story every day, but with tears on literally everyone’s face she totally could not hold it together.

Mickey’s Soundsational Parade – ANYWAY. Then you wipe your tears up and go to lunch! Your meal will be at the Jolly Holiday and we happened to sign up for a late lunch that put us sitting in the shade with food just in time to watch the daytime parade go by! It wasn’t the best view in the world but it was nice to sit and eat and have something to watch to make you stop crying about Feed the Birds. There was an awesome Mary Poppins section where Burt and Mary came riding by on carousel horses just like in the movie – it was AMAZING!

One thing, though – if you’re having lunch on the tour, a lot of the options are sandwiches with deli meat, which is a no no for pregnant ladies. Don’t worry though – there are a couple of lovely salad options (which is what I went with) and the Jolly Holiday said they’d be more than happy to make a sandwich using the hot turkey they usually put on salads. So there are options, just be sure to let them know you’re pregnant and what your dietary restrictions are. Remember that not everyone’s been pregnant, and they may not know that you can’t have deli meat. So always explain what’s up.

Marching with the Disneyland Band – As a long time band nerd, one of my biggest dreams is OF COURSE to march with the Disneyland Band. Well, during the 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration, that’s apparently a thing you can totally do. Over the speakers they announced to head to the castle to march along with the Disneyland Band down main street. And it was like the crazy dreams I had as a teenager that I knew would never come true just coming true all of a sudden. We got to be right behind the band, and marching down Main Street was like a real parade – people were lined up cheering and waving at us as we marched by. And I had tears streaming down my face the entire time. The parade route was short and very doable for a pregnant lady. And it was also my favorite thing from the entire trip, so yeah, I definitely recommend it.

The Dapper Dans – Now on to my husband’s dream come true – the parade ended with a big sing along with the Dapper Dans. He was a big time choir geek as a teen, and the Dapper Dans are one of his favorite things to see in the parks. We also got to see them perform in one of the cafes. We had been asking the meet and greet characters to sign their names on one of two banners – boy or girl – to guess the gender of our baby. And husband just had to get the Dans to sign too. After agreeing unanimously on “Boy,” they each took time to sign their name while singing. Because they’re the best.

Mickey and the Magical Map – This is a new show that I was SO excited to see because, as you know, Sorcerer Mickey is my very favorite Disney character. It’s pretty much your classic Disney show, running through a few classic Disney movies with Mickey, but there are a lot of cool new things. For one, the entire stage is a projected screen that characters hop in and out of, going from live actors to prerecorded ones very quickly. They also had these guys in big balloon things that I can’t even explain — it’s a good show. Go see it. I was worried about getting to see it because it’s new, but the castmembers said don’t worry, it’s rarely been so crowded that anyone was turned away.

The Fantasy Faire – This is the newest little area of fantasyland, and it’s all dedicated to the Princesses. They have storytime where they tell the stories of all your favorite princesses. We saw the Frozen one and I was really impressed. They do everything low-tech, which is really cool. It kind of feels like greek theater or street theater, everything is done with simple practical effects, masks, and puppets. Plus the two guys they have playing off each other to tell the stories (along with the princesses themselves) were really really funny and well-written. Don’t sit in the sun, though, if you didn’t buy sunscreen yet! I speak from experience!

There’s also an entirely new building where you can meet three princesses. They change throughout the day, but the sign out front will tell you who’s in there. We met Belle, Snow White, and Cinderella. And it’s nice that you can wait in line in the shade and get to see three characters for one wait. And they’re all indoors with that sweet sweet air conditioning. Very good if you just sunburned the crap out of your back watching storytime.

Finally, there are the nighttime spectaculars. During the Diamond Celebration, there are two limited time shows along with Fantasmic, the normal show that’s always there but that I was unwilling to miss because it’s my favorite show in the world. It will take careful planning on your part to see all three. You’ll have to hit the first parade and fireworks, and the final showing of Fantasmic. No dinner reservations unless they are the special firework ones!

Paint the Night – This new parade is a lot like the classic Electric Light Parade – cranked up to eleven. It’s bright and gigantic. We didn’t take the time to line up early for it because that is the best way to meet the rudest, grumpiest people, but you don’t even sort of need front row seats for this baby. Heck, I sat down on the ground behind the walkway where people leave the park, but everything was so big and bright and tall I hardly missed a second. Since it’s new, though, you will be in a crowd of probably grumpy people. It’s unavoidable. So if you’d rather not deal with it at all, I understand.

Our tour guide said one of the best places to watch is from It’s a Small World. It’s much less crowded. But since the fireworks start right after the parade and husband was insistent on having a castle view, we didn’t take her advice. You should, though.

Disneyland Forever – You know that Disney wasn’t going to just do another firework show for their Diamond Celebration. Expect all the amazing fireworks you’re used to, but there’s much more. Using projections on the castle, Main Street buildings, The Matterhorn Mountain, and It’s a Small World, the buildings light up and even dance along to the music. Your favorite characters in their original hand drawn animation are also projected all around you. Tinkerbell does, of course, soar over the park, but she’s not alone this time! The Matterhorn Mountain turns in to the roaring volcano, Mount Wannahackaloogie, and Nemo swims high overhead through the RING OF FIRE – now with actual fire.

It’s amazing. And if you look up recordings on YouTube, it’s really hard to tell what’s even going on because it really is a completely immersive, 360 degree experience.

Once again, however, if you want to watch on Main Street because you want to see the Walt and Mickey moment at the end, you will be packed in with crowds of insane proportions. Since they open the street after the parade, everyone floods into it and you have to stand. I am vertically challenged, and while I could see the sky just fine, I couldn’t see the projections on the buildings or the castle. Luckily I was there with my crazy husband, who picked me up, pregnant and all, and perched me on his chest for the entire. Show. And I did not ask for this, it just happened.

Since I’m pretty sure no one else’s husband is that crazy, you might stick to the Disney tour guide’s advice to watch from It’s A Small World.

Fantasmic – Be sure to get a fastpass for Fantasmic early in the day. If you want the second showing because you’re wanting to see the fireworks and the parade as well, wait until later in the day, between noon and 3, and the fastpasses for the second show should be available. Most of the good viewing areas for the show are roped off for fastpass users only, and if you’re short and your husband just finished holding you for 20 solid minutes, it’s good because you’ll almost definitely be close enough to the water to see everything without tall people in front of you.

Alas, as with all of the night time shows, everyone is grumpy and mean. If you’re pregnant and you sit down, people will mutter about how obnoxious you are and how they’re going to take your spot. Nice. But for the most part, it wasn’t too bad because we wound up next to a family of Canadians! And the stereotypes are right, they are the nicest people ever. We talked about my pregnancy and her kids and our trips and how it’s crazy that I have to pay to pop a baby out here in the states. It made it a lot easier to ignore the grumpy gusses muttering behind us talking to these nice folks. So, find some Canadian buddies to watch your nighttime shows with if at all possible, it makes a world of difference.

The show itself is amazing. I’m pretty sure I’ve already written volumes about how it’s my favorite thing in the world and it’s amazing and there’s giant dragons and all kinds of crazy stuff. This time, they did cut a section out – not sure if it’s for time or if there was a weather issue or something, but it did make it feel a little short. I don’t think I would have noticed if I wasn’t already so familiar with the show, though.

This post is way longer than I meant it to be. But I’ll end here, with the part every pregnant woman came to see: THE FOOD.

Well, unless you’re in your first trimester. You probably want to skip this part until your appetite returns.

Breakfast: Mickey beignets with a Mint Julep in New Orleans Square

Lunch: A FREAKING BACON MAC AND CHEESE HOT DOG. Because it really is the most magical place on earth. Plus it comes with yummy apple slices.

Second Lunch/Early Dinner: Jolly Holiday salad with a Matterhorn Macaroon for dessert.

Glorious. Now I’m hungry. Stay tuned for a look at Disney’s California Adventure while pregnant, as well as the gender guesses from all our Disneyland friends!